Bruins have a solid first line of defense

Aug. 20, 2008

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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RIGHT FROM THE START: UCLA defensive tackle Brian Price missed the start of the 2007 season because of academic issues. This season the defensive lineman will start next to Brigham Harwell. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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HEALTHY NOW: UCLA defensive lineman Brigham Harwell, a senior, missed most of 2007 with a knee injury. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

RIGHT FROM THE START: UCLA defensive tackle Brian Price missed the start of the 2007 season because of academic issues. This season the defensive lineman will start next to Brigham Harwell. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES - It was like one of those bad dreams, the kind where you never quite get where you're going.

A UCLA running back kept taking the handoff and smacking facemask-first into a writhing tangle of humanity, pads, jerseys and sweat. Nobody could get any traction. Speedy tailback Raymond Carter carried the ball six times and netted a yard.

UCLA's top three tailbacks averaged barely 2½ yards per carry in Saturday night's scrimmage. Afterward, it took defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker maybe a second or two to peg the reason for so little running room.

"Well, you've got Brian Price and Brigham Harwell," Walker said.

The Bruins' rebuilding offensive line proved no match for the two big defensive tackles Saturday. If things work as planned, neither will UCLA's opponents.

A bushel of things might give new coach Rick Neuheisel his first gray hair in a mop of blond, but the interior of his defensive line isn't one of them.

The Bruins appear set at nose tackle, where the senior Harwell plays, and next to him where Price, a true sophomore, digs in his tree-trunk legs. It was a dream team that never materialized in 2007. Because of academic problems and inexperience, Price didn't get on the field until the fourth game. By then, Harwell was on the bench with a season-ending knee injury.

Since March, the Bruins coaches have gotten to see the tandem in action.

"Hopefully, they'll be as good as advertised," Walker said. "We're counting on them. We need those guys to have big years."

While coaches have tried to lower expectations at other positions - quarterback, offensive line and secondary spring to mind - nobody is backing off big talk when it comes to these two big men.

"I think we're the best tandem in the country," Harwell said.

Their position coach, Todd Howard, staked a similar claim. Howard thinks he has the best defensive line since he arrived in Westwood before the 2006 season and he has had the sack leader in each of his previous two years.

"I think they should be able to play the run as well as anybody's tackles in all of Division I," he said.

Their chemistry was forged in only a handful of practices, but they swear it's tangible. They eat lunch together at midday, then watch film together, then make life miserable for UCLA's rebuilding offensive line in the afternoon. Walker calls them Big Daddy and Little Daddy.

Independently, each says the other player is "like a brother."

Harwell had plenty of time last season to watch Price progress from a powerful, quick, unrefined player to someone coaches could rely on. He thinks his young teammate might be nearing the potential that caused some of the top programs in the nation - including USC - to recruit him out of Crenshaw High.

"He's smarter. He knows what blockers are trying to do to him," Harwell said. "He's still a young pup, just starting to play, but his techniques are a lot better. It still needs a little work, but he's a great talent for just being a sophomore."

The UCLA coaches admit they lived with some of Price's youthful mistakes last year, but by the Bruins' Las Vegas Bowl game against BYU they finally saw the kind of dominating interior presence they thought they had.

"Right there, that was a starting point of him being able to take it to another level," Walker said. "We're hoping he can continue that going into Tennessee."

Price's strength and relative speed always have made him special. Walker says he uses his hands well and "plays at a different level," in terms of his effort. Now, if he can master the technical aspects, no one knows how good he can be. Including him.

"That's one of my big problems, but I'm coming along well," Price said. "I like to overpower people and go to work, but I'm gong to meet my match one day. So, I have to work on technique. I'm just working on the little things right now."

Harwell is the more polished player, but it's not like he lacks physical tools. He is the only Bruin to bench press more than 500 pounds. On most plays, he's pinned down by two or three blockers, just taking up space in the middle of the line and freeing up the linebackers to make tackles.

It's not the most glorious assignment, but Price has a plan in mind to send Harwell off in a cloud of adulation."I'm just trying to help him get out of here. We're helping each other as we pursue this Pac-10 championship," Price said.

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